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Dust Buggy

I'm real happy with steel it on my buggy.
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The overspray is heavy. Cans spray real good and cover fast. 2 cases of cans on this frame.
 
RustyC said:
Mask off everything below the area you want to paint with paper. Easier than sanding.
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I will be doing this as well so as to not add to the overspray.
Still have to sand all the overspray from first go around.
Good news is that Steel-it sands very well. After 3 days of dry time I can smell it’s still drying but it’s powdery and dry when sanding. Doesn’t gum up the scotch brite or foam sanding block.
Top half is all sanded and ready for a recoat.
 
Only had two and half cans left but that got the top roof bars recoated.
Cans are way easier to spray than a gun. Just the right amount of pressure and cone shape for tube work. Had a little bit of wind which helped blow the overspray away as well. Overspray on mid row is very minimal. Could get away without knocking it off. Quick wipe with a scotch brite will take off the dust.
I plan to keep working in steps like this. It will take more time for drying and sanding but it will turn out better.
 
Almost done with repainting.
Decided to make a makeshift paint booth so weather didn’t play a factor. The colder weather mid 50°s helped keep the paint wet so the overspray soaked in. Outside in the sun on 70° day was too hot and dried too quick the first go around.
Worked in sections from top down covering the lower tubes with a drop sheet and a bag of rags draped over tubes.
Nocking down overspray with a microfiber and 100 grit foam block worked well.
Recoating sections is not noticeable so touch up is easy. No need to cover everything in one pass.

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I might have missed it, but how many cans of Steel-It did you chassis take?
 
That's about $1000 bucks in spray paint:eek: Did you just want to weldable paint?

I will say it looks great!
 
Mike Honcho said:
That's about $1000 bucks in spray paint:eek: Did you just want to weldable paint?

I will say it looks great!
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24 cans is $863 before tax if you order through Amazon.
That includes chassis, axles, links, t-case, small parts.
What I like about steelit
Dull shine, hard to explain but it looks different than paint or powder coat
Hides touch up very well
Dries hard, not sticky or soft
Doesn’t run
Coats fast
From what I have seen it’s durable

Don’t really care about welding through it, I would sand before painting
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
24 cans is $863 before tax if you order through Amazon.
That includes chassis, axles, links, t-case, small parts.
What I like about steelit
Dull shine, hard to explain but it looks different than paint or powder coat
Hides touch up very well
Dries hard, not sticky or soft
Doesn’t run
Coats fast
From what I have seen it’s durable

Don’t really care about welding through it, I would sand before painting
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thats alot of $ in paint, but this is a legit bad ass build and deserves a good coat of paint. very well done. :beer:
 
I think that's a fair price for good paint. Painting tube work is wastes SO much paint it's crazy. I'm betting it's still cost less than powder coating everything.

Love the look.
 
Finally decided on how to know the tank level while filling without overfilling. A sight tube visible while filling the cell.
After seeing a number of poly tanks with bulkheads down low for gravity pickups I figured it must be possible. At work, I put bulkheads in sulfuric acid tanks and that is way scarier than fuel, it doesn't even need to be ignited to melt your face off.
So I figured it would be fine if done correctly. I used #6 XRP fittings and bulkhead made in the USA. Many off road shops and some racers sell and use the Nylon washers or the Parker Stat-O-Seals , XRP sells them as well and I installed them the first time and then got to wondering what material they are, which is Nitrile which is fuel resistant but not ethanol resistant and if you live in CA then you are hosed. So I decided to pull the tank out and apart for the hundredth time and make my own Stat O Seals with Viton o-rings and SS washers/shims, both of which are happy sitting in ethanol all day. #6 Threads are right around 9/16" and that size o-ring is 9/16" ID and 3/4" OD. I luckily had a 3/4" SS shim pack from my hording supplies that had washers of varying thickness and used the one that was just thinner than the o-ring. Used Gasoila thread sealant that's rated for 20% ethanol. Used some star washers and another nut to double jamb it. Use some 3/8"ID x 1/2"OD Teflon tube and 157 OET SS crimp clamps. Teflon tube is resistant to pretty much everything, good for -450° to +450° continuous heat, UV resistant, doesn’t crack or tear. Also changed out the fill hose from PVC clear to some Napa fuel fill hose NBH1045 since I don't need to see through it. Napa lists it at Nitrile lined, but also says its suitable for use with gasoline, gasohol blends of ethanol, methanol, ethers, diesel and biodiesel to B20, so it should be good for CA fuel.

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Got some more lines routed.
Radiator lines #20 are shielded to keep exhaust heat off and water heat in as well as abrasion.
Trans cooler lines are #6 crimped JIC hydraulic hose wrapped in heat shield.
Trans vent line #4 is full loop wrapped around the top and bottom then to breather.
Transfer case and doubler lines #4 are drain back from the catch cans with 1/4 turn valves and breathers. They both have sight tubes so I can see the levels when filled correctly and I add a marker to know if one is leaking too much.
Vents and bellow are all in a common spot. High as I could get and far enough away for when they drip. Decided to ditch the 1/4 turn valves on the vents as they started to feel like more of a headache of accidentally closing or breaking from accidental contact.
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In the middle of wiring, I kept looking at the brake reservoir because it stuck up too high and was bugging me. Anywhere else and I probably wouldn’t care but when I’m driving, it’s right in front of me.
So I made a new one that is shallow and holds more volume and has a smaller cap. Since it’s shallow I added some center pick up tubes so that when nose up or down the air pocket will be away from the pickup up in the corners. Also notice the CanAm diff bellow is plumbed to it with a 1/4” airline.
Small detour from wiring but worth the price of mind.
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It all looks very clean.

Just throwing it out there for future, instead of camlock fittings, triclamp offer low to medium pressure solutions with cheap weld ferrules that have very reasonable overall clearance typically in stainless.
 
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Bggrnchvy said:
It all looks very clean.

Just throwing it out there for future, instead of camlock fittings, triclamp offer low to medium pressure solutions with cheap weld ferrules that have very reasonable overall clearance typically in stainless.
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I’ve used those on some projects before.
I like the cam lock parts because they can be found around farm suppliers, which around here is everywhere. They are self contained, no seals or clamps to fall off. I am going to add tethers to the arms so they can’t get lost or dropped. They don’t rattle loose the cam action keeps them tight. On the fuel cap, it has safety pin that have to be pressed to release the arms so it cannot be taken off by accident. They can also take a beating without breaking and have no threads to fubar. The plastic caps are pretty lightweight as well. The cap seals can be changed to different materials. The brake is EPDM and the fuel is Viton.
 
Reworked the firewall to put the ECM away from heat. Used heat shield and tape which also deadens noise on thin material. Closed the clearance of the intake tube through the wall and added edge trim for squeaks and wear. Added a kill switch mounting plate that doubles for air switches with space for future add ons. Added battery studs on the winch for a front junction. Wired the 4L80 Radesigns Winters shifter harness. It’s only three wires. Power, coil one and coil two which go to the micro switches which switch to ground.

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I never planned on where to measure 4L80 trans temp for a gauge. The Spal fan sensor reads the hot oil leaving the torque converter in the cooling circuit at the remote filter before it hits the cooler. This spot is best because it activates as soon as the heat rises minimizing lag.
A lot of people add a pan port and take the average of the drained back oil.
Some read the cold oil after leaving the cooler as this is what feeds the lubricating circuit which eventually drains back to the pan.
The return circuit location would show that the trans is getting cold oil and all is well. If the trans was putting out too hot of oil and the cooler couldn’t keep up you would know faster than if it was in the pan which would have a lag as the whole volume was warmed up.
If the cooler couldn’t keep up you would know how hot of oil was feeding the lubrication circuit and let off to cool down as soon as it was too hot. The pan reading would buffer the hot fluid so you would not know how hot the entering fluid was until the average was too high.
As of now I’m planning to locate the temp sensor right after the cooler, unless anyone has good reason not to.
 
So you will have the fan temp control reading the fluid coming out of the transmission and the gauge reading it going back into the transmission?
So the gauge will tell you if the fans/cooler are unable to keep up?

Aaron Z
 
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